Catahoula: Shallow End Gals (A Shallow End Gals Book 4)

by Vicki Graybosch

  Ed pretended to be worried, “Oh, no. You’re ahead of me!”

  Izzy giggled and went back to reading.

  Ed laid his book down. “You need to go to bed soon. You’ve had a long day. That first door down the hall is for guests. You can use that as your room.”

  Izzy jumped up and ran to the door and opened it. “It has a bed and everything! All for me?”

  Ed answered yes.

  Izzy ran over and kissed his cheek. “I’ve never had my own bed before. I wish you had known my Gram.” Izzy smiled, “Gram would have loved you, too.” She grabbed Huckleberry Finn and ran to her room.

  Tears ran down Ed’s cheeks. If only he could go back in time. Lord, save this child.

  Reuben was devastated. He was sure that he and Marla had been on the verge of something wonderful. He blamed himself for getting her involved. He knew the FBI and Catahoula would make Dooley pay. That wouldn’t bring Marla back. Reuben wiped his tears and decided to go to bed. He turned to shut off the kitchen light and saw the bag of carrots Marla had bought sitting on the counter. He walked over and put them in the fridge. He smiled remembering Marla’s shock that he didn’t eat carrots. He would from now on.

  Maddie stood in the middle of the hall and barked so loud it made her little body move backwards. Reuben smiled at her. “Well, little gal, I guess we’ll take this one day at a time. Come on, let’s go to bed.”

  Reuben removed all his clothes but his boxers and collapsed on his bed. He stared at the dark ceiling and thought of Marla. Soon he felt his blankets compressing from Maddie moving up toward his pillow. She nuzzled into his armpit and laid her head on his chest. Reuben looked down at her big brown eyes and thought he felt Marla in the room. Maddie raised her head, barked once at the dark corner at the end of the bed and laid her head back down on Reuben’s chest.

  Roger was notified the Coast Guard had rescued Sarah and the girls. They were being flown home. The agents that made the arrest stated that they were met with no resistance. The three men arrested were in a frenzied state. They claimed a tiger had been on board the yacht. They also said they had shot it and it wouldn’t die. It didn’t even seem wounded. When the Coast Guard showed up, the men claimed the tiger just disappeared. The agents that arrested the men attributed their story to possible drug and alcohol consumption.

  Roger chuckled to himself. He knew the ‘tiger’ had probably been one of his angels. He imagined the encounter with a tiger could be quite a sobering experience. Roger called Senator Welsh as a courtesy follow up.

  Senator Welsh had a smile in his voice. “The FBI has been outstanding in this. Locating my family so quickly seems impossible. My God you have only had hours! I have spoken with my family and we are in agreement about tomorrow. I have a favor to ask, Agent Dance.”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  “Just being cautious, could you arrange for my transportation to the Senate, so I may place my vote tomorrow?”

  “It would be an honor, sir.”

  Cat prepared to go to sleep and noticed his phone had a message. The call must have come in when he was in the shower. Cat listened to the voice of Dillard Boggs.

  “Yeah, sorry to call so late Mr. Delacroix, been hours and hours goin’ through my old records here. On the night Molly Jarvis was murdered, I was training my new security guy at the Dirty Secret. Off duty cops are what we use to keep it legal and all. Name’s Mason Dooley. You check with him. He was here all night right by my side. You have a good night now, ya hear?”

  Mason Dooley was hardly an alibi since he was on video in the alley. Dillard Boggs had moved quickly to provide an alibi that he thought would be airtight. Guilty people scramble. Cat made a mental note to concentrate his efforts in the morning, on the information the FBI had sent over on Boggs. Cat wondered if Boggs hadn’t hired Dooley for the dirty deed. It fit, if Molly was the target.

  Thursday 8:00 am

  As Cat exited the elevator on his floor in the Justice building, he could see Martha sitting high in her perch. Her eyes were narrowed at seeing him, and her head slightly tilted. Cat smiled, “Morning, Martha.” He winked and opened his door. His desk was free of files for the moment. He sat twisting in his chair and waited.

  Martha appeared in his doorway, “Sabastian Delacroix. What are you doing back at work already? You can’t be feeling that much better.”

  Cat booted up his computer and glanced over to her. “It was your soup! It was delicious.”

  Cat had a mischievous grin on his face. “Have you instructed the new guys on your office rules?”

  Martha chuckled, “Darn right, I did. Told ‘em to leave you alone, too.” Martha left his office to return to her desk. Cat watched her lightly dust her monitor, straighten her stack of files and throw her shoulders back. Cat was fairly certain he wouldn’t have many interruptions this morning.

  He leaned back in his chair and called Roger from his cell phone. “Do you have any idea when my mail will be arriving?”

  Roger answered, “I just sent it by courier ten minutes ago. Is your boss there yet?”

  Cat leaned forward and saw Ted talking to James Mulley, a transfer attorney from the Virginia office. “He’s here.”

  “I have it addressed to you, since you are Senior in the office. I thought you might want to break this to Ted yourself.”

  Cat rolled his neck and winced at the still present soreness in his shoulders. “Yeah, I do. This isn’t going to be easy. He just cleared his calendar to start working on his campaign.”

  Cat hung up from his call and watched Ted in the hall. He was going to make a good Governor. Maybe too good. Cat kept remembering Meyer’s words, “A few strays actually gain office against the odds. Dedicated men who do this for the greater good. They don’t stand a chance over the long haul. Not with dirty tricks. Always get stopped.” Cat thought about Senator Dalton.

  Cat was answering his emails from being out of the office all day yesterday. He opened an email from Judge Ingle. Cat couldn’t remember ever getting an email from the judge.

  The email read : My messages to your office have not been answered. Have important information for you. Urgent attention required. Please contact me.

  Cat buzzed Martha. “Have I received any messages from Judge Ingle?”

  Martha responded, “Not that I’ve seen.”

  Cat remembered the Judge’s bailiff complaining the judge was getting forgetful. Maybe that was it. The timing was certainly suspect, the email had been sent Tuesday evening, when Judge Ingle had been murdered.

  His next task was going to be reviewing what the FBI had on Boggs and Dooley. A quick knock on his opened door made him look up to see Ted.

  Ted was shaking his head as he walked in and took a seat. “Heard you have a bit of a black eye. How’s the rest of you?” Ted laid some files on the desk and leaned back waiting for an answer.

  Cat smiled, “Let’s just say I don’t want to do that again for a while.”

  “What the hell were you doing over there at night anyway?” Ted’s brow furrowed in concern.

  “I went for hamburgers.” Cat shrugged.

  Ted reached over and pushed the door shut. “Look. I’m your friend more than anything else. People go to that neighborhood for one thing. If you have a problem, I can help you. Nobody needs to know.”

  It took Cat a moment to figure out what Ted was implying. “You think I went there for drugs?”

  Ted shrugged. “Makes more sense than hamburgers.”

  Cat decided to start warming Ted up for the news. “Okay. Listen, I went there to follow up on a rumor I heard about the Jarvis case.”

  Ted leaned forward, “The Jarvis case? What kind of rumor?”

  Cat lied, “A friend of mine at the FBI says they have a video of Edward Meyer being set up for his arrest. I guess the video shows him being drugged and placed in that stolen car. Exactly like he claimed it happened. I wanted to see the alley for myself.”

  Ted stood and began pacing, “A video? Wh
ere has this video been for eight years? Where did it come from? I thought the surveillance cams weren’t working there.” Ted sat and twirled his pen in his fingers. “The motive was always weak. Marks screamed about that all along. But it’s the only thing we had.” Ted leaned back in the chair, “FBI? Wonder how they got this?”

  Cat didn’t say anymore. He saw Martha arguing with a courier outside his office. Ted was deep in troubled thought. Cat hit his intercom, “Martha, if that is for me or Ted, it’s fine.”

  Martha answered, “You’re the winner. Has to be a hand- to- hand delivery.” Her disapproval was evident in her tone. “It isn’t good enough for me to give it to you when you have a minute.”

  Cat chuckled and stood. He looked at Ted and pointed outside of the office. “Just a second, Ted. Let me get this and we can continue.” Cat signed for the delivery and brought the envelope to his desk. The return address was FBI. Cat tapped on the address, “FBI. Person –to- person.” Cat took his letter opener and opened the file. He pulled the documents out and began reading.

  Cat moaned, “Oh, brother.”

  Ted put out his hand, “What?”

  Cat handed Ted the order from the Solicitor General to the FBI authorizing the reopening of the Molly Jarvis case and dropping the charges on Edward Meyer. Cat read the second order, “What the hell? They are exhuming the body of William Jarvis.” Cat hoped his acting skills would pass.

  Ted stood. “Give me that!” He grabbed the papers with such force Cat was expecting them to tear. Cat glanced out his window to Martha’s desk and saw that she was mesmerized by the animated conversation that was happening.

  Ted dropped to his chair, “Who at the FBI sent these?”

  Cat pretended to have to search for a name, “Roger Dance.”

  Ted’s jaw set, “Never heard of him.” Ted hit Cat’s intercom for Martha. “Martha, see if Steven Marks can come up here. He’s in fraud, downstairs.”

  There was a pause and Martha answered, “Steven Marks was shot yesterday. I think he’s in the hospital.”

  Ted was stunned, “What? When? By who?”

  Martha answered she didn’t know, but she would call the hospital and get an update for them.

  Ted looked at Cat, “Did you know Steven Marks was shot yesterday?”

  Cat searched his mind for an answer that wasn’t a bald face lie. “I was home yesterday eating Martha’s soup.”

  Ted lifted his chin toward the ceiling and closed his eyes. He mumbled, “I was in meetings in Virginia all day. Damn finance crap for the campaign.” Ted leaned forward, “I can’t think of a worst time to reopen a case this big.” He looked at Cat, “You know the FBI will have us do all of the legal on this or they wouldn’t have sent us a copy. I wonder why they went to the Solicitor General instead of just filing it here.”

  Cat clicked his pen, “Would you have allowed these to be filed if they had asked you?”

  Ted shrugged, “Hell, I don’t know. One thing’s for sure, I can’t run a campaign and work on this too.”

  Cat replied, “I can do this. You run your campaign.”

  Ted stood and snickered, “They may not want me if I charged the wrong man in the biggest murder case in the last decade.”

  Cat decided to push, “Why do you think they are exhuming William?”

  “Someone thinks it wasn’t suicide.”

  “Is there any chance of that?”

  Ted’s voice had gotten louder and he waved the papers for effect. “The medical examiner ruled a suicide. What the hell do I know? It doesn’t matter. By the time the FBI agrees, my campaign will be in the toilet.”

  Cat considered Ted falling victim to dirty tricks already.

  Cat asked, “Who found his body?”

  “Cleaning lady.” Ted spat out the words as he left Cat’s office.

  Cat watched Ted walk to his office with the orders from the Solicitor General clutched tightly in his hand and close his door. It certainly was bad timing for the Jarvis case to surface now. But that would mean that Reuben and Edward coming forward now was part of some devious plan. That didn’t seem likely. Someone other than Ed killed Molly and Mason Dooley was in the middle of it.

  Cat walked out to Martha’s desk and met her raised eyebrows with a shrug. “I’m going to leave for a couple of hours. Could you check around and find out where the evidence boxes are being stored in the Molly Jarvis case and have them brought here?”

  Martha didn’t even try to hide her surprise. “That’s what’s going on? Dear Lord.”

  Cat nodded and took a mint from a bowl on her desk. He knew they were just for Martha and him. He had seen her slap other people away. He took the wrapper off it and she held her hand out.

  Martha dropped the cellophane paper in her basket and asked, “Who started this?”

  Cat answered, “FBI.”

  Cat walked to the elevator and noticed Martha was already on her phone hunting down the evidence. Cat dialed Roger as soon as the elevator door closed.

  Cat asked, “When is William’s body being exhumed?”

  Roger answered, “They did it last night. Listen, I had an idea last night about your little friend, Izzy. Well, truthfully the idea was from my fiancée, Kim. I took the liberty of asking Ed to bring her here at ten this morning. Kim thought if she saw the FBI office and met some officers, she wouldn’t be as afraid of them.”

  “Mathew Core’s wife has agreed to bring their daughter, Jamie, and offer to take Izzy with them on a shopping trip. If Izzy goes for it, Ed will be available for us to plan how we move this thing forward. None of us will be worrying what Izzy is doing.”

  Cat caught himself sighing with relief. He had been very worried that Izzy would get spooked by Ed’s ‘coming out’ and run. Cat answered, “Tell your fiancée she is a genius.”

  Ed fried some sausage hoping the smell would bring Izzy from her room. Breakfast was ready and still no Izzy. Ed walked down the hall and knocked on her door. “Hey, gal. You hungry?” Ed waited for a response and then opened the door. Izzy was gone.

  Ed noticed the bed had been neatly made and he didn’t see any of Izzy’s things. The Huckleberry Finn book lay on the nightstand. Ed felt sick. Did he scare her somehow? Maybe it had been too soon to talk about her making a plan.

  He thought he heard his front door open. Ed walked to the end of the hall where Izzy stood with a grin from ear to ear. She brought her arm from behind her back to expose a huge bouquet of flowers.

  She put her finger in the air to stop him from talking. “I didn’t steal these. Gram and I planted them last year. Aren’t they beautiful?”

  Ed reached out, “May I?” He held the bouquet under his nose and took a long deep breath. “I believe these are the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. We should put them in water.”

  Izzy ran to the kitchen and grabbed an old iced tea pitcher that had been under the sink. Ed noticed it now sparkled. Izzy put her hands out, “Let me show you Gram’s trick.” Ed handed her the flowers and Izzy searched in his silverware drawer for a small knife. She laid each stem flat on the counter and made an angular cut at the bottom of each stem. “See? If you cut the stem at an angle, more water can get to the flower face. Do you have some sugar?”

  Ed reached in the cupboard and brought down a small sugar bowl. Izzy carefully put a level teaspoon of sugar in the pitcher of water and then looked at him. “You mustn’t waste sugar. One teaspoon is plenty.” Her jaw was firmly set as she carefully stirred the sugar with a wooden spoon. She arranged each flower until the bouquet was complete.

  Izzy turned to Ed and held out the arrangement. Her face beamed with expectation and pride. A look only a child could portray. “Do you like it?”

  Ed wiped a tear. “Izzy, it’s the most beautiful thing anyone has done for me in a very long time. Thank you.”

  Ed sat the pitcher in the center of the table. “Let’s eat some breakfast. I have a field trip to go on today. I would like you to join me.”

  They were
nearly done with breakfast. Ed was very aware he had to carefully choose his words or he would alarm Izzy. “Do you know what the FBI is?”

  Izzy put her fork down and stared at Ed. “They are very important police.”

  Ed took a bite of his eggs and nodded. “Very important, yes. They are helping me to not be invisible anymore. They have a smart plan for me and want me to visit them this morning.”

  Izzy stared at Ed and didn’t speak.

  Ed continued, “I was thinking if you came with me, we could go to the library afterwards and look for some books.”

  Izzy tilted her head. “You don’t need more books.”

  Ed chuckled, “I don’t, but you do. Huckleberry Finn will be read soon and I don’t have many children books here. Wouldn’t you like to see the other books that author wrote?”

  Izzy frowned, “You could go to your meeting and then come back to get me. Or I could find the library and meet you.”

  Ed realized there was no point in trying to trick her into going. “Remember when we talked about how smart people sometimes still ended up in situations?” Izzy nodded. Ed put his napkin on his plate. “We are both smart people. So are the FBI. You don’t want to spend your whole life afraid of police, because you think they want to make you a ward of the state. That’s not smart.”

  Izzy’s face was turning red. Ed quickly added. “I just want you to meet them. I promise you are coming home with me after the meeting. Nobody there will try to take you.”

  Ed’s promise had made the difference. He could see her body relax and she smiled. Izzy put her hand across the table. Her arm barley reached to halfway. “Pinky swear?”

  Ed wrapped her pinky finger in his and said, “Pinky swear.”

  Cat stood outside the observation window of the Medical Examiner’s office. There was a row of six bodies lined up with white sheets covering them. Cat surmised these were the people found in the crypts awaiting someone to identify them. He assumed they were presentable or they wouldn’t be in front of the window.